Welcome to version 3.0 of the Forensic Photoshop blog - now the Forensic Multimedia Analysis blog. With the latest developments in purpose built software and hardware for the analysis of multimedia, we move the discussion beyond a single piece of software to include all the major developers, image processing fundamentals, court cases, upcoming training offerings, and product reviews.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Toward an Ethics of Expertise

"... The relationship between expert and layperson is grounded on an epistemic inequality. The expert knows more than the layperson about matters within the scope of her expertise. And if the layperson appeals to the judgment of the expert, he usually does so because he acknowledges the superiority of the expert's judgment to his own. Thus, the epistemology of the expert-layperson relationship can be focused on the concept of rational deference to epistemic authority. This rational deference lies at the heart of the particular form of power that an expert has and is also the center of the particular form of vulnerability that each of us, as a layperson, is in.

The concept of rational deference presupposes that the layperson appeals to the expert and acknowledges the rational authority of the expert. Obviously, someone must appeal to the expert, some layperson must acknowledge the authority of the expert or the expert's knowledge will be socially irrelevant and useless. So, the ideas of appealing to epistemic authority and rational deference may suffice for the epistemology of expertise. But when we turn to the ethics of expertise, we must not forget that often an expert's expertise is applied to those who have not appealed to the expert. They may well not even agree that this opinion represents a form of expertise. Indeed, expert opinion alters many people's lives without their knowledge, much less their consent ..." - From Toward an Ethics of Expertise by John Hardwig

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Copyright notice: all content is protected by US and International Law. Original materials copyright 2017 - Jim Hoerricks. All other material/links are copywritten by their respective owners. The information contained herein may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the owners. The views and opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily those of any of the author's employers or clients - either past or present.

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If you've made it down this far, thank you. It is my pleasure to host this discussion on the forensic video and image analysis. If you have any questions about the techniques seen here, or if you want to ask any question, just send me a note. I'd be glad to get back to you. Again, thank you for your interest in digital multimedia forensics.